My Queen, My King
by sandufus
Summary: Episode 18: Haesoo gives Wangso up to Yeonhwa in order to protect him; despite the loneliness, despite the pain.
1. Chapter 1

_Set in EPISODE 18 (26:00) after the Royal Wedding:_

 _Haesoo spends the day at the Prayer Tower, trying to make peace with her decision to let So marry Princess Yeonhwa._

 _That peace would never come. Late into the night, as she sits up in bed and hugs her knees, she tries to keep the loneliness at bay; she tries not to imagine what could be going on in a different room not so very far from hers. She buries her face in her arms and thinks of his strong hands on her body, remembering the warm taste of his soft lips on hers, feeling his solid presence enveloping her, drowning out her pain..._

"Soo-ya."

Haesoo looks up in surprise to see him standing there, a determined look on his handsome face. She stares uncomprehendingly at him for a few minutes, not quite ready to believe what she was seeing.

"Pyeha. But why... what are you doing here?" she finally asks, getting up and wrapping her blanket self-consciously around her shoulders.

He closes the door behind him and makes his way slowly towards her, his eyes never leaving her, taking in every line, every curve, every detail of her lovely face.

"I told you before..." he whispers softly, reaching out to touch her. "You are my only queen."

She swallows hard. "But... Yeonhwa-"

"I don't care about her," he interrupts with a slight shake of the head. "I want to spend tonight in the arms of the one I love."

In his eyes she sees his determination, his pain and his loneliness... his unspoken apology. They are mirrored there as clearly as she feels them in her heart.

"But..." she hesitates, a lump rising to the base of her throat. "Will this be okay?"

"If I say it is okay..." he smiles one of his self-satisfied smirks, "then it's okay."

She smiles back weakly, feeling shy but happy as he pulls her gently into a firm hug. "My Queen... I missed you today."

She closes her eyes and sighs. The feel of his body, the touch of his hands - all too familiar now in their warmth - slowly easing the soreness from her heart and mind. For a time, she thought she had lost him. But here he was still - strongly, determinedly, firmly hers. And she was his. She will always be his.

She wraps her blanket around the both of them, not wanting to let him go now that he was here with her at last - her answered prayer. "I missed you, too... my King."


	2. Like Falling Stars

_Setting: Episode 17.  
_ _Sometime after Gwangjong became King, long before his marriage to Queen Daemok._

* * *

The sun set, the moon rose, the stars shone. Hae Soo remains alone in her room.

She sighs from her position at the table, the food she had helped prepare so meticulously during the day now gone cold and stale. "Surely, he would be finished by now?"

For the umpteenth time, she glances at the door. She can see the silhouettes of the guards stationed right outside her room, unmoving, the hall completely still and silent. "Will he still come? He said he would..."

Disheartened, she puts out the lamps and opens the window.

The stars are bright tonight, with not a single cloud to hide them. As she watches, a meteoroid hits the Earth's atmosphere and slowly disintegrates into nothing, leaving behind a trail of brilliance. A falling star, people called it, even though it wasn't - just another beautiful thing called something it's not. A facade of brilliance, shining as brightly as a star, to mask the dying rock within.

She closes her eyes to make her wish.

A memory surfaces... of a different time, a different moment, when she was with a different man. If she had known then how they would end, she never would have wished so greedily on that falling star.

Another memory surfaces... of a song. A foreign song. An English song. Not for the first time, she finds she misses the sound and beat of modern music.

"Why is it so dark in here?"

She's so surprised, she inhales sharply and ends up choking on her own spit. Her King comes over to thump her helpfully on the back. She hadn't noticed him come in at all, what with her eyes closed and her mind full of melodies.

"You're late," she admonishes the moment she's able.

"I thought you would be asleep by now."

She sniffs. "You came anyway."

He wraps his arms around her from behind and rests his cheek against her temple. "I couldn't not see you." Such simple words are enough to placate her. Hae Soo feels slightly wrong-footed. "The sky is clear tonight," he adds pleasantly, trying to shift the conversation into something more neutral.

She recognizes the tactic and hums her agreement. "I can clearly see the _Lonely Maiden_ constellation from here."

"The what?"

"You don't see her unless the sky is absolutely clear like it is tonight. That's one reason why she's so lonely," Hae Soo says smoothly, emphasizing her every word. "According to the stories, she was a woman who waited by her window day and night for her lover to come. After spending thirty days and thirty nights with no sign of him, she fell ill and eventually died of starvation. The gods took pity on her and immortalized her in the stars."

There's silence as he processes this bit of information.

"Are you making this up?" he asks at last with just a hint of suspicion in his voice.

She gasps halfheartedly. "Me? Lie to my King?" She turns in his arms to face him. "Maybe."

He growls his indignation. If this was her way of making him feel guilty, it was working. "I would have come sooner if I could. You know I would have."

"Because you promised. And you always keep your promises," she says. "But what do we do now? The food's gone cold, you won't want to eat it... and I spent so long making it, too," she grumbles that last bit, fingering the golden dragon emblazoned on his chest.

He knows. One of the eunuchs he'd assigned to look after her had informed him of her whereabouts and activities earlier.

"I know," he whispers, pulling her in to trail light kisses along the side of her face. "I'm sorry, Soo-yah."

She huffs, turning her face to indicate where she'd like to be kissed instead. "Aren't you hungry? The ladies have all gone to sleep, but I can cook for you again if you'd like."

"No. Let's have what you made earlier."

"It won't taste as good," she warns.

He grunts, lifting her chin up to face him properly. There's a mischievous, almost wolfish look on his face as he smiles down at her. She can feel her skin tingling from anticipation, warm blood rushing to her cheeks and neck. Before he can say anything, she tugs at the golden _binyeo_ holding his _sangtu_ in place, causing his hair to tumble over his back. She runs her fingers through his ponytail, the ends of which have curled from being kept in a knot all day.

"The night is dark and full of terrors?" she murmurs, matching his smile with one of her own.

His expression shifts to confusion. "What?"

"Nothing." She can't help but chuckle at what she'd just said. The only reason she'd watched Game of Thrones was because it sometimes showed in the bar she and her friends frequented.

She should have felt nostalgic, sad at the memory of the friends she'll probably never see again... but she isn't. Not when she has him in her arms. She feels no trace of emptiness or loneliness. He always made her feel that way - like she was the only one in the world; the only one who mattered.

She pecks his lips. "Let's eat."

* * *

 _Let your colors burn and brightly burst_  
 _Into a million sparks that all disperse_  
 _And illuminate a world that'll try to bring you down_

"My wish..." she whispers to his sleeping form, marveling at the way the filtered moonlight illuminated the sharp lines of his face, highlighted the curves of his lips and cheeks. Her eyes land on the scar gleaming darkly against his pale skin. She traces a finger over it, barely touching, remembering how she had wiped it off earlier, remembering how it had felt beneath her adoring lips.

In those moments, she always felt infinitely special. No one else, living or dead, has touched his scar as frequently or as familiarly as she has... of that much, she is certain.

"If we could just stay this way for a long, long time... that would be perfect," her hushed voice is loud in the silent stillness of the room. A wish is not supposed to be spoken out loud, but she has never been one to believe in such superstition.

 _When the sun goes down and the lights burn out_  
 _Then it's time for you to shine_  
 _Brighter than a shooting star_

"There is nothing else I would want."

* * *

 ** _The story just played itself in my head and I had to write it down._**  
 ** _I might reference this in my fic one of these days, so at least you'll know what it means lol_**

 ** _P.S. Song lyrics "Shooting Star" by Owl City_**


End file.
